'Yogassage' draws on best of massage and yoga

Wednesday

Sep 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM

Yoga is a proven stress-buster and massage a mood-enhancer. Put them together and you get a double dose of health and wellness benefits. At Meridians Spa and Wellness Center in Weymouth, they call this fusion of yoga and massage yogassage. The practice takes a little from yoga and a bit from massage and turns it into a relaxing and healthy exercise that helps increase circulation and flexibility and reduce tension.

Dana Barbuto

Not all marriages last, but odds are in favor of the union between yoga and massage living happily ever after. Yoga is a proven stress-buster and massage a mood-enhancer. Put them together and you get a double dose of health and wellness benefits.

At Meridians Spa and Wellness Center in Weymouth, they call this fusion of yoga and massage yogassage. The practice takes a little from yoga and a bit from massage and turns it into a relaxing and healthy exercise that helps increase circulation and flexibility and reduce tension.

The idea, said Morgan Sturtevant, a licensed massage therapist, is to take the body to new levels of flexibility that it can’t achieve on its own. A yoga practitioner, Sturtevant said the fusion of both disciplines allows people to open tight muscles, release stress and get in tune with their bodies.

Yogassage is also a good introduction to yoga for those unfamiliar with the terminology and poses.

“It could almost be called a lazy man’s yoga,” said Sturtevant, of East Bridgewater. “This way, (the client) can lay there and relax in the stretch.”

Like a massage session, yogassage is personal and is done one-on-one or with two clients max at most. (Meridians charges $59 for a one-hour private session or $35 for a semi-private. A package of five sessions costs $250.)

To start, you lie down on a yoga mat and Sturtevant leads you through a brief guided meditation and deep breathing. Then you move on to stretching twists and compressions in seated poses like half-lotus, working up to a standing segment in poses like warrior.

Although Sturtevant might stretch clients a little farther than they can do on their own, she never pushes too far.

“It’s nice because you can only stretch your body so far,” Sturtevant said, adding that clients are also massaged while holding poses, which allows her to do some deep tissue work and manipulate muscles from different angles.

“How do you lose when you’re getting stretched and massaged at the same time?” Sturtevant said.